master thesis proposal robin de croon

MASTER THESIS PROPOSAL

Smart and accessible homes

Robin De Croon

Contact information

• Robin De Croon (s0206928)

• Computer Science - Human Computer Interaction

• robin.decroon@student.kuleuven.be

• http://twitter.com/RobinDeCroon

Domotics

“Composite word of Latin word domus and informatics, or

a contraction of domestic robotics, and it refers to

intelligent houses meaning the use of the automation

technologies and computer science applied to the home.”

Bruno de Latour (journalist), 1984

Importance

The Smart Home is expected to …

• Provide communication and reduce isolation

• Entertain

• Be comfortable

• Train

• Save Energy

• Be safe

• Support social and health needs

• …

in an intelligent way !

Human factors from the beginning

• A view from the environment and the services … “A place where the family needs, in terms of safety and

control, communications, entertainment and comfort,

environmental integration and accessibility, are covered

through the convergence of services, infrastructure and

equipment.“

↨

• A technological view … “House network composed by consumer electronics, mobile

devices and computers that transparently cooperate by

interoperating in an easy and interconnected way to

improve and enrich the user experience.“

Context (1/2)

• A smart home produces a lot of information:

– Sensors, controllers, actuators

– Personalization and localization devices

– Alarms

– Computer, Tablet, Smartphone

– Audio video devices

– Home media platform

– …

Information overload ???

Context (2/2)

• Home ≠ House Person has to be central

• Many ways to interact with user

– Wrong way Not accessible

Source image: http://familyderm.net

Purpose

• Best way to present all this data to the user:

– Tablet?

– Smartphone?

– Screen in each room?

– Speech

– …

• Right User Interfaces!

Source image: http://rdiego.diatel.upm.es/athens2012/Presentations/AthSmartHome12_Tue.pdf

A suggested elaboration

• Previous research:

– (e.g. http://hogardigitalaccesible.euitt.upm.es/)

• Research on available domotica systems

– Evaluate existing systems using scientific methods:

• Questionnaire

• User Testing

• …

• Develop an app to interact with the smart home

– Definition of scenarios and use cases for new application

– Rapid prototyping with user centered design of new application,

thorough user evaluations